User Rating: 8.7 | Runaway: A Road Adventure PC
Adventure gamers don't have much to be happy about these days. The genre that drew a lot of my generation into gaming in the first place has been limping along for the past few years in America (despite going relatively strong in Europe). So few adventure games are released each year that almost all are "game of the year" because they've run unopposed. In what is a valiant effort to help save the genre, game reviewers have been rather kind to mediocre adventure offerings in hopes that it will spur sales. Thus, the overhyped titles like The Longest Journey, and last year's Syberia, which was horribly paced, and absolutely inane. It's sad to think that the last great adventure was the 1998 masterpiece Grim Fandango. Well, adventure fans: rejoice! Runaway does what other recent games have not been able to accomplish: it proves that the adventure is still an enjoyable genre! Runaway focuses on the exploits of a young grad student named Brian, who makes a last-minute side trip on his way across the country. That decision turns out to be something that changes his life forever. A young woman running from the mob darts out into the street, and Brian hits her with his car, injuring her. With that one fateful moment, Brian gets drawn into a web of mystery involving dark secrets. Runaway's story is quite good. The characters are interesting, and the plot moves along at a nice pace, presented through a series of conversations, and pre-rendered cutscenes that emulate the style of the game's engine. The story unfolds in chapters, interspersed with Brian talking directly to you in a retrospective fashion. All in all, it's a decent narrative that never gets too burdensome or takes itself too seriously. After some of the never-ending conversations and cheesy plots of games like The Longest Journey and Syberia, Runaway's crisp and fast-moving story is a welcome return to the days when adventure gaming was fun. One of the big selling points of Runaway has been the graphics, which combine intricate hand-drawn 2D backgrounds with cel-shaded characters based on 3D models. Though it's been done before, Runaway manages to integrate the characters, objects, and backgrounds better than any 2D game before it, providing a wonderful amount of detail. Some of the backgrounds are a bit dark, but that's a minor issue. Characters are a bit stiffly animated at times, and the animation lacks the variety of, say, Curse of Monkey Island, but it's still pretty good by adventure standards. If there is one puzzling thing about the graphics, it's that characters are wonderfully animated when they move to pick something up or shift in a chair. They smile, gasp, or grunt in fluid motion, but the minute someone's mouth opens to speak, the entire screen becomes static, except for mouths that are stiffly animated, and aren't synched, at least not to English. This is puzzling, as you'd figure with a robust graphics engine, you could have people move and talk at the same time, a feat which has been technically possible since Loom was the hot new CD-ROM title spinning in our double-speed CD-ROM drives. In the sound department, Runaway delivers. Some have criticized the voice acting, but I think it works. Sure, it's not on par with LucasArts titles, but the voicing is competent nonetheless. The sound effects are generally good, and the music is excellent, though the game lacks any memorable musical themes. In the gameplay department, Runaway falters a little bit. The challenge seems to have been artificially increased by some non-intuitive gameplay requirements. For instance, early in the game, you are presented with a situation, but there's really no story element that indicates what exactly it is you're supposed to be doing. After you pick up a few objects, it becomes a little more obvious, but a little more direction would have made the actions seem more sensible. Furthermore, when you examine a bag early in the game, Brian rifles through the contents and pulls out a pack of matches... but, it still doesn't seem to be enough to help you solve the puzzles. Little did I know that I had to search the bag AGAIN to find another item. This is cheap. Also, when examining inventory that needs fixing, for instance, there's no verbal cue, like, "If only this pen had some sort of ink..." That said, once you get an idea of what it is you're supposed to do, most of the puzzles make sense. Like Full Throttle, you will cover a lot of ground, but you're confined to a series of small areas to explore, so there's not a lot of trekking around countless screens. That said, each area presents a good challenge, so don't take that to mean that your adventure won't be difficult. All in all, Runaway is a fairly long game. Sure, it's not Longest Journey long, but then again, no one really can honestly tell me they enjoyed sitting through sixty hours of droning dialogue. Instead, Runaway consists of about an hour total of spectatorship, and a good 12-15 hours of active gameplay. Certainly enough to keep you busy for a while. If you're hungry for a good adventure, Runaway will fit the bill. This is the first great adventure in 5 years, and one not to be missed.
